


The Price of Love

by captainamergirl



Category: General Hospital
Genre: Bachelor Auction, F/M, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 00:46:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13963686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: The whole thing started because of the bachelor auction... Or maybe, it started long before that...





	The Price of Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Kiki & Griffin love story (with happy little Fayden bits tossed in for good measure).
> 
> Note: Ava and Griffin haven’t kissed or screwed around in this story though yes, Griffin did harbor a crush on her (gah!!!).

**1 - The Bachelor Auction**  
  
The whole mess ironically started because of Hayden Barnes. Happy, fat with pregnancy, and deliriously in love with Dr. Hamilton Finn, she had gotten it into her head that everyone should have a chance to find their soulmate like she had. And what better way than -  
  
 _“A bachelor auction?_ You want to host a bachelor auction?” Finn said as they stood at the nurse’s hub. “Really?”  
  
“Yes, _really._ We’ll do it for a good cause, of course.”  
  
Finn lips curled in a smirk. “Oh, of course.”  
  
“No seriously, Finn. We’re trying to build a new peds wing here, remember? That takes money. A lot of money GH simply doesn’t have.”  
  
“Okay, but a bachelor auction? There’s got to be another way to get some capital than dressing the orderlies up and having them parade around in front of a crowd of lonely hearts.”  
  
“It won’t just be the orderlies, Finn … All of the unmarried men who make their livelihoods courtesy of General Hospital will be included.”  
  
Finn swallowed hard, realizing the possible implications of her words. “Well, luckily you and I are engaged so I don’t have to participate.”  
  
“I said _all_ unmarried men who work at General Hospital. That includes you.”  
  
“Wait. So you’re willing to sell the father of your child off to the highest bidder?”  
  
“If it will save this hospital, you bet your ass I am willing.” She smiled sweetly as she palmed her huge belly. “Besides, I know I can trust you.”  
  
Finn looked at Griffin who was pouring over a chart close by. “Griffin, did you hear that? She wants to sell all of us off like common chattel. Back me up here, man. Tell her this is a very bad idea.”  
  
Griffin’s lips puckered in a smile. “I can’t because I actually think it’s a good idea.”  
  
Hayden grinned triumphantly at the two men. “See, Finn?”  
  
“What about the bro code, Griffin?” Finn grumbled. “Don’t us guys have to stick together on issues like this?”  
  
“The bro code is all well and good but I want to help the hospital in anyway I can. Plus -” he sighed quietly -”I am tired of being alone. And who knows -- maybe my Miss Right will be there that night and bid on me.”  
  
“But I thought you and that Ava Jerome woman-”  
  
Griffin shut the chart. “Nothing's happening there, I can assure you.”  
  
“What’d she do to mess it up?” Hayden asked, having heard something of the woman’s colorful reputation from her sister Elizabeth.  
  
“She didn’t do anything wrong,” Griffin said. “I guess I just wanted more than she was ready to give.” He tucked the chart in the file basket and looked at Hayden. “So, yes. Please sign me up.”

 

***

  
2 - The Pep Talk  
  
Kiki knocked on the door twice and waited for Ava to answer it. “Mom, I know you’re in there. Come on. Please let me in.” There was no answer. Kiki sighed softly and used her key to turn the lock. She found her mother lying on the sofa, passed out, her protective facial mask very haphazard. A bottle of expensive tequila was overturned on the floor.  
  
Kiki closed the door and moved to her mother’s side. “Mom, _Mom._ Wake up, okay?” She said. Ava made no move to do so; just blew out a whispery breath with her lips and kept snoozing. Kiki put her hand on Ava’s shoulder and gave her a firm shake. “You either wake up now or I’m calling Dr. Munro to come over and examine you.”  
  
Ava’s eyes instantly snapped open in response. Kiki waved her cell phone before Ava’s blurry vision. “Kiki,” Ava snapped. “Put that phone down right now, or else.”  
  
“Or else what? You’ll hit me over the head with that tequila bottle?”  
  
“If I have to to stop you from acting completely idiotic.”  
  
“Oh yeah. It’s _so_ stupid of me to not want my mom to drown herself in booze.”  
  
Ava waved her hand dismissively. “You’re being dramatic, Kiki.”  
  
“I thought you said I was being idiotic.”  
  
“You can be both,” Ava grumbled. She rubbed her eyes. She was clearly hungover. The bright light in the room was no doubt doing a number on her sensitive retinas. “Anyway, I’m awake now so what do you want?”  
  
“For starters, I want you to stop drinking so much. You really need to get ahold of yourself.”  
  
"Dammit. I knew I should have changed the locks the last time you came in here throwing around demands.”  
  
Kiki sunk down onto the sofa cushions beside her mother. She tucked a strand of dark blonde hair behind her ear. “I am worried about you, Mom. The way you’re hiding out from the world, barricading yourself in here, drinking like a sailor…”  
  
“Kiki....”  
  
“No, Mom. You need to hear this. Doing what you’re doing to yourself is so wrong. Yes, your face is … damaged … okay I know that has to suck-”  
  
“You have no idea.”  
  
“Then maybe you should talk to someone about the way you feel. I work with several doctors at the hospital who are more than qualified to help you through this difficult time.”  
  
“Can they fix my face?”  
  
“Mom-”  
  
“Can they? I am so tired of looking like the lead character in The Phantom of the freaking Opera!”  
  
Kiki cringed at the ire that was evident in her mother’s voice. “Mom, you’re so much more than your looks and you know that.”  
  
“I scare people, Kiki. Your little sister is terrified by the sight of me.”  
  
“Well, how exactly is she supposed to learn to not be afraid of you if you never come around?”  
  
“I am tired of talking about this. It’s the same old, same old. Nothing has changed.”  
  
“Mom-”  
  
“Kiki, _stop.”_  
  
“I am trying to help.”  
  
“Well you’re not. So stop hounding me. You and Dr. Munro both.”  
  
“What do you mean? Was Griffin here again today?”  
  
Ava rolled her eyes, tugging at the sleeve of the mauve dressing gown she never seemed to take off these days. “Well?” Kiki pressed.  
  
Ava glared at Kiki. “If you must know, yes, he was here. He wanted to take me out again but you know what happened last time - how I freaked out that little child and her parents; how everyone stared and pointed and whispered. Anyway, I turned him down. Well, not just turned him down. I said some awful things... Truthfully, they were emasculating things… Needless to say, he won’t be coming around here again anytime soon.”  
  
“Oh, Mom… Well uh, maybe he just needs time to process things a bit. I’m sure he’ll be back.”  
  
“To take more abuse? Hmm, doubtful.”  
  
“But he likes you… Do you like him?”  
  
“Kiki, you’re giving me a blinding headache with all of this talk. Please go.”  
  
“I’m worried about you.”  
  
“Go. Leave. Now,” Ava said. “I want to be alone.”  
  
Kiki shook her head. She reluctantly moved to her feet. “You know, if you push people away enough times, eventually they will stop coming back. Then you really _will_ be all alone.”  
  
  
3 - For the Longest Time  
  
Kiki couldn’t understand why everytime she had called Dillon over the past few days, she got his voicemail. She knew he was very busy in L.A. right now directing his independent movie but she didn’t think it was too much to ask for a two-minute phone conversation with her boyfriend every once in awhile. _Was it?_  
  
She sighed and pushed her cell into the pocket of her midnight blue scrubs. She’d have to try calling him again later. Her lunch break was almost over. She tossed her two empty pudding cups into the trash and headed out of the cafeteria. She stepped off of the elevator on the sixth floor and started towards the nurse’s station. She spotted the ever-growing Hayden and a bewildered Finn standing behind the desk.  
  
“Finn, you have to wear a tux to the auction. No one’s going to take you seriously dressed in a vest and rumpled trousers that smell like Roxy.”  
  
“Hayden, I mean this with no disrespect, but you’re driving crazy, woman. And trust me, I was already halfway there.”  
  
Hayden shook her pretty head. “There are some really nice tuxedos sitting in my office, donated by a local men’s shop for tomorrow night. Let’s at least have you try one on before you say ‘no’.”  
  
Finn shook his head vehemently. “Do not want.”  
  
“Oh come on. Don’t be such a stick in the mud.” Hayden grabbed for Finn’s hand and yanked him towards the bank of elevators.  
  
Kiki noticed Griffin round the corner as Hayden dragged Finn away. “Is it just me or is she freakishly strong?” Kiki said to Griffin.  
  
Griffin smiled briefly. “Yeah, it’s not just you.”  
  
“It must be all the prenatal vitamins she’s taking.”  
  
Griffin slid behind the hub, moving over to a computer. But rather than type, he just stood there staring off into space. His lips were turned down in a frown.  
  
“Uh, Dr. Munro?” Kiki said, fidgeting with a paperclip. “Are you alright?”  
  
Griffin didn’t answer her right away. He shrugged and then said, “I’m fine. At least, I will be. And it’s Griffin, remember?”  
  
“Right, Griffin…” Kiki dropped the paper clip which she had mangled into the trash can at her feet. “Do you want to talk about it? Whatever’s bugging you, I mean.”  
  
“Oh, I couldn’t burden you like that.”  
  
“Well, you counsel everyone else; let them lean on you. It's only fair. I mean, how many times have I literally cried on your shoulder about what's happening with my mom?” She studied his drawn expression. _“Unless_ this is about my mom…”  
  
“It’s not,” he said. “Well, maybe not entirely.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I mean… I like your mom.”  
  
“I thought so.”  
  
“But I know for sure that she doesn’t feel the same. She said she never would either and I have to accept it… It’s just that I see Finn and Hayden … The wonderful, affectionate, loving connection they have, and I realize -”  
  
“You want to have someone special in your life too.” It wasn’t a question.  
  
Griffin rubbed his cheek. “I’ve said too much. I must sound very-”  
  
“Real. You sound very real. I mean, I figure no one wants to really be alone.”  
  
“Your mother seems to want to be … and I did for the longest time too when I was a man of the cloth.”  
  
“Can I ask why -” She hesitated, not sure if she should ask the question she had in mind. It might just be too personal. But he simply nodded his head, as if telling her it was okay to continue.   
  
Kiki splayed her hands on the desk before her. “Why did you leave the priesthood?” She asked quietly. “Was it because you were hoping for something to materialize with my mom?”  
  
“Maybe there was a small part of me that thought we’d have a chance if I left my calling, but there was actually someone else who really influenced my decision - someone who made me see that right or wrong, I needed to leave the priesthood so I could have a chance at a different kind of life.”  
  
“Someone else?” Kiki echoed. She hadn’t known he was involved emotionally or otherwise with anyone else after that Claudette person years before.  
  
“Yes… Charlotte.”  
  
“Oh, the little girl you thought was yours.”  
  
“Yes… for about two minutes... But those two minutes were glorious ... Long enough to convince me that I needed more than the church could give me. I want a home. I want someone to come home to every night. I want a family.”  
  
Kiki smiled a little, surprisingly touched by his thoughtful words. “That’s ….deep.”  
  
Griffin chuckled softly. “Thanks… I think.”  
  
“No, I am glad you confided in me.”  
  
“You know what, Kiki? I’m glad too.”   
  
_TO BE CONTINUED_


End file.
